Sealable containers are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,055, iss. Jan. 8, 1974 to Anderson, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,756, iss. Jul. 6, 1976 to Barish, incorporated herein by reference, disclose containers having plug seals. However, plug seals require significant manual manipulation to effect tight sealing. Unless the user is careful, such a seal may not perimetrically enclose the aperture through which the contents of the container are to be accessed. Unless full perimetric enclosure is obtained, perishable contents stored in the container may spoil.
Another type of seal is illustrated in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,882, iss. Dec. 7, 1999 to Randall, and incorporated herein by reference. This patent discloses a container having a closure means activatable by an externally applied force.
One attempt in the art to overcome the problem of having to manipulate a full perimeter closure, without having visual, tactile, or audible signal that full sealing has been obtained, is to use a slider, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,875, iss. May 9, 1972 to Gutman, and incorporated herein by reference. However, to date, sliders have only been capable of unidirectional operation. Sliders are not capable of operation in an XY plane when used in conjunction with a rigid seal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,214, iss. Mar. 22, 1977 to Hansen et al., discloses a multiple plastic container having a cover with a hinged connection to the base. U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,659, iss. Sep. 9, 1991 to Warburton, discloses a thermoformed plastic container having a locking lid and base. U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,627, iss. Nov. 26, 1996 to Richie-Dubler, discloses a thermoformed plastic container having a lid and base with an integral hinge. U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,973, iss. Aug. 23, 1994 to Edwards et al., discloses a container having a seal flange comprising a curved surface which interlocks over an arc of more than 180 degrees.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,092, iss. Sep. 16, 1997 to Julius et al., discloses a container comprising a cover having a lid tray and peripheral flange. U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,407, iss. Apr. 16, 1996 to Feer et al., discloses a container lid having a peripheral flange dimensioned to receive the rim of a container. The flange terminates at a skirt having a lever arm to allow removal of the lid from the container. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,860, iss. Jan. 3, 1995 to Littlejohn et al., discloses a food container having a unitary base and also a unitary lid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,761, iss. Oct. 22, 1991 to Williams, discloses a reclosable package having a lid and base fusion bonded and peelably sealed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,990, iss. Jun. 11, 1996 to Buck, discloses a flexible container having a flap which closes the container opening. A stiffening element extends around the periphery of the flap. However, such a container is neither sealable with a slider, nor sealable by manipulating only a limited sector of the stiffening element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,330, iss. Mar. 18, 1986 to Schepp, discloses a tray and hinged lid having a locking engagement internal to a flange. U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,307, iss. Mar. 18, 1986 to Frydenberg, discloses a container having elements held together by a sliding latch. The sliding latch precludes opening of the container by preventing transverse movement of a post/rail combination. U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,266, iss. Jun. 27, 1995 to Yun, discloses a lid with a visual seal indication for proper closure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,462, iss. Jul. 29, 1997 to Simonsen et al., discloses a rigid reclosable package having a flexible cover.
None of the aforementioned references disclose a container having a rigid seal extending with vector components in both directions of an X-Y plane and being closable with a slider which is congruently translatable relative to said seal.